Carding engines



March 13, 1956 W. A. HUNTER CARDING ENGINES Filed Dec. 7, 1950 United States Patent CARDING ENGINES William Aldred Hunter, Helmshore, Rossendale, England, assignor to T. M. M. (Research) Limited, Helmshore, England Application December 7, 1950, Serial No. 199,645

Claims priority, application Great Britain December 13, 1949 2 Claims. (Cl. 19-99) The essential function of the carding process, as a stage in the preparation of textile fibres for spinning, is that ofdisentangling and dispersing the fibres in such fashion as to distribute them evenly in a web whichis as nearly as possible of uniform density. It has however been the practice for many years past to treat the carding engine as affording an opportunity of continuing the process, commenced in the preceding opening and scutching machinery, of removing entrained impurities, natural waste such as the husks and broken leaf of vegetable fibres, and short fibres, and for this latter purpose the carding engine has been complicated by incorporating in it additional mechanism such as revolving stationary or self-stripping flats, or roller and clearer arrangements.

Whilst such added mechanisms may be effective for the particular purpose which they are intended to serve, it can be shown that their presenceimparts certain serious inherent disadvantages. Thus, there is a tendency to create artificial waste, composed, for example, in the case of carding engines incorporating systems of flats, of nep or rolled-up fibre bodies which are difficult to disperse, a defect which is particularly troublesome if the flats are inaccurately adjusted, or if the wire clothing on the cylinder and flats is not correctly ground and maintained in good condition. Furthermore, both fiat systems and roller-and-clearer systems produce a high proportion of unnecessary waste due to the breakage of the fibres by the too rigorous action of the carding elements, especially when dealing with the longer and finer staple filaments, and it willbe obvious that the attempt to salvage the material so wasted by returning the stripped fibres to the lap entering the machine, as where the so-called back-stripping arrangements are used, substantially reduce the quality of the ultimate yarn owing to the admixture of the short stripped fibres.

It is contended that the necessity of utilising the carding engine as a cleaning unit is detrimental to the attainment of a high degree of efficiency in yarn production, and that it should be, and can be, avoided by the use of more efiicient opening and scutching apparatus before the material reaches the card, and the object of the present invention is to provide an improved constructional arrangement of carding engine for use in the treatment of fibres which have been properly prepared and cleaned, or which, as in the case of synthetic fibres, do not require such pre-treatment.

A carding engine in accordance with this invention comprises the conventional lap feed and taker-in mechanism, a single main card cylinder in association with which is arranged a single subsidiary cylinder operating to distribute the fibres evenly over the main cylinder, and suitable dofiing apparatus.

The essential feature of the invention is the use of the single subsidiary cylinder to perform the sole duty of distributing the fibrous web over the main cylinder. By a suitable regulation of the relative peripheral speeds of these two elements and an appropriate setting of the opposing points of their wire clothing, it is possible to ensure that substantially no damage is sustained by the fibres in the process of their dispersal over the main cylinder by the distributor cylinder.

The arrangement which characterises the present invention is distinguished from the known forms of carding engine which comprise a single card cylinder working in cooperation with a fancy roller, the function of which is essentially different from that of the distributor cylinder provided herein, being employed to raise the carded fibres to the tips of the wires on the card cylinder preparatory to its removal by the doffer cylinder.

The manner in which the invention may be carried into effect is hereinafter described with reference to the accompanying diagrammatic drawings, which illustrate a carding-engine incorporating the present improvements. Fig. l of the drawings is a longitudinal section of the cardingengine and Fig. 2 a large-scale detail view depicting the relative setting of the distributor cylinder and the main cylinder.

It will be seen from Fig. 1 that the web from a previously cleaned lap of fibres 1, supported on the conventional mandrel 2 between slotted standards 3, and resting.

on a driven feed roller 4, is received by a single taker-in roller 5 and delivered thereby to the main cylinder 6'. This latter member is conveniently of much less diameter than in the hitherto conventional carding engine, and may indeed be no larger than the usual doifer. The main cylinder 6 is continuously clothed with saw-toothed wire.

7 of known pitch and rake, or with one of the known forms of self-stripping wire fillet. The term continuously clothed is meant to require clothing without interruption in a circumferential direction but not necessarily clothing without interruption in an axial direction. 1

At a point closely adjacent to the taker-in 5 there is mounted in operative relationship to the main cylinder 6 a distributor cylinder 8 which is preferably clothed with wire fillet 9 of a finer gauge than the clothing of the cylinder 6. Said distributor cylinder 8 revolves at a considerably less peripheral speed than does the main cylinder 6 and in the opposite direction thereto; its wire clothing 9 is set point to point with the saw-toothed clothing of the main cylinder 6 and in close proximity thereto, as shown in Fig. 2.

The function of the cylinder 8 is to distribute or disperse agglomerations of fibres received from the taker-in 5, the points of its clothing 9 intercepting and picking up such agglomerations so that in the course of its rotation they are spread evenly over the clothing 7 of the main cylinder 6.

A doffer cylinder 10, dolfer comb 11, trumpet guide 12, calender rollers 13, 14 and coiling apparatus 15, all of conventional type, are used to remove and convey away the carded fibres from the main cylinder 6.

The constructional arrangement thus described permits the complete enclosure of those parts of the machine where the actual carding operation is performed, i. e. at the points of juncture of the main cylinder 6 with the taker-in 5 and the distributor cylinder 8, thereby contributing to a substantial reduction in the amount of dust and lint normally liberated in these regions. The casing 16 enclosing the upper parts of the machine may in fact be continuous from the taker-in 5 almost to the dofling comb 11, except that the part of the casing which covers the distributor cylinder 8 is capable of being opened (as shown at 17), to permit the cylinder to be cleaned periodically by means of a mechanical stripping arrangement.

Generally speaking, the distributor cylinder 8 will be driven at approximately one tenth of the peripheral speed of the main cylinder 6, the precise speed relation being varied to suit different conditions with respect to the staple length of the fibres being processed and the volume of fibres being fed to the machine. In the case of 1 staple rayon of 1 /2 denier, carding has been successfully performed with the main cylinder rotating at a peripheral speed of about 1850 feet per minute and the distributor cylinder rotating at approximately l95 feet per minute.

The conventional mote-bars 18 are provided beneath the taker-in roller 5, and the under-casing 19 for the cylinder 6 may be perforated as shown for dust removal.

The improved machine is particularly well suited to the treatment of rayon and other synthetic staple fibres, as well as certain cottons and wools where these have been subjected to a thorough preparatory cleaning operation.

Further valuable advantages of the present improved machine, resulting from the use of a small main carding cylinder 6 and the elimination of complicated revolvingflat or roller-and-clearer mechanisms, are found in the considerable reduction in overall height and floor space, the reduction in the power required for its operation, and the substantial economy in the cost of manufacture. The output of carded material is at least as high as that obtainable from the conventional types of machine and of much enhanced quality.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

l. A carding engine consisting of the following elements: lap feed and taker-in mechanism, a single continuously saw-tooth wire clothed main card cylinder receiving stock from said taker-in mechanism, a doffer cylinder positioned to receive stock from said main cylinder, means for stripping the stock from said dofier cylinder, a single continuously clothed distributing cylinder clothed with wire fillet of finer guage than the clothing of said main card cylinder, said distributing cylinder being positioned so as to revolve with the clothing clear of the main card cylinder but in close proximity thereto and adapted to revolve at a slower peripheral speed than said main card cylinder, and a housing covering said taker-in mechanism, distributing cylinder and said main card cylinder and closely following the contour thereof, whereby said stock protruding rom said main card cylinder is engaged by the teeth of said distributing cylinder and is carried around and deposited on said main card cylinder from said distributing cylinder in a different position thus distributing uneven masses of stock evenly over the main card cylinder.

2. A carding engine consisting of the following elements: lap feed and taker-in mechanism, a single continuously clothed main card cylinder receiving stock from said taker-in mechanism, a dolfer cylinder positioned to receive stock from said main card cylinder, means for stripping the stock from said dolfer cylinder, a single continuously clothed distributing cylinder positioned so as to revolve with the clothing clear of said main card cylinder but in close proximity thereto and adapted to revolve at a slower peripheral speed than said card cylinder, said distributing cylinder being positioned on the same side of the vertical center line of said card cylinder as said taker-in mechanism and a housing covering said taker-in mechanism, distributing cylinder and said main card cylinder and closely following the contour thereof, whereby said stock protruding from said main card cylinder is engaged by the teeth of said distributing cylinder and is carried around and deposited on said main card cylinder from said distributing cylinder in a different position thus distributing uneven masses of stock evenly over the main card cylinder.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Re. 532 Parkhurst Feb. 23, 1858 2,263,970 lannink Nov. 25, 1941 2,603,840 Dunn July 22, 1952 FOREIGN PATENTS 7,062 Great Britain 1836 27,303 Great Britain 1910 

